Into the Italian Alps

Stellplatz: Area Sosta Borgo Valsugana

Timm and I left the coast today and headed direction Italian Alps, the ultimate goal being the Dolomites and visiting Bolzano and surroundings.

Venice this morning was absolutely beautiful, as we left the sun was starting to rise above the tree,  blue skies and white frost on the fields!

Temperatures stayed pretty much around 3 degrees the whole day but unfortunately still no Snow!

We had a lovely drive to our little village and we've found a very cute little Stellplatz alongside the river running through the Valley.

One thing I am picking up is that Italy is expensive. Not only the public toilets but also the Shops, Restaurants, and Stellplaetze / Campsites. Prior to arriving in Italy I had no problems finding reasonably priced  or even a free Stellplatz, here in Italy they don't feel shy charging 20 - 30 Euro's just to park! And they are clever - advertised is a Stellplatz for X, but when you arrive it's also Y for the people, Z for electricity, A for getting rid of your rubbish, tourist tax, environmental tax, winter heating tax etc......

So may I present you: The coin-operated rubbish bin!

Timm refining his sun compass

And if there's no sun, we create it :-)

Venice

Campsite: Camping Fusina

Last night we finally slipped into Venice.

We woke up early and got some water taxi tickets from Fusina to Venice and we were off!

Even the fish can go to this church!

It was extortionate but we had too....

Our Gondeleer, who had done his three months theory and nine months practical, was descendend from a long line of Gondeleers and was filling in for his dad who had broken his hand.

He also sings while he works his magic through the tight alley ways that make up Venices waterways.

His name was Mathias....

Guess why I chose this Gondeler...

There were some water issues in St Marks Square!

And more water issues, but fortunately we were on the spoor very fast !

Even though Mel has "spent" the most on public toilet fees, Timm gets the award sofar for utilising the most expensive one. R22.89 for a pee! 

Got to love italien Health & Safety. Note that lifejacket cupboard is bolted closed :-)

San Marino

Stellplatz: P10, San Marino (Yip, Parking Lot No 10)

For those of you who don't know, San Marino is a country! It is the size of a small town and is perched on a hill in rural Italy. They have their own passport and can in fact travel to China without a visa - the only country in the EU that can do this. 

It was very cold up there!

Here is the entire country!

The Leaning Tower of Pizza

Stellplatz: Camping Sosta Pisa

For those of you who don't know Timm, not only when he was a kid but also to this day, refuses to call this icon of Italian engineering failure anything but the "Leaning Tower of Pizza"

We used out counter terrorist training and visited this tourist trap in under 5 minutes flat!

So far Italy has not "grabbed" us, its surprisingly expensive and we're finding that the Italians are quite brusque, to the point of being unfriendly. So far the Italians also top the chart for speakimg the least amount of English, out of ALL the countries!!! Go figure

So on we go, trying to find our little place of happiness

Florence

Campsite: Camping Firenze

We arrived in Florence to an awesome well run camp site and believe it or not, the first Italian that could speak half way decent English. On commenting how good his English is he laughed and said "I'm Albanian". So much for that one. 

As usual we set off to see the sights on the Red Bus..... It was a complete nightmare. The driver was driving as though he was in a demolition derby and the narration was rushed half Italian half English and not synchronized with where we were.

Eventually we just had enough, jumped off the bus and continued on foot to see the sights :)

No Italy is complete without a Ferrari :-)

When returning home we could not help but to notice the local way of keeping thieves at bay .....

All Roads Lead to Rome - or Not ?

So off we went in search of the sights of Rome, until the news came that Italy was on a high state of alert and that the public is advised to stay away form all tourist attractions in Rome!

Ok, off to Florence, they don't have terrorists there!

We arrived at our Stell Platz for the night near a beautiful Lake and we were checked in by the boss herself below - we had to pay with ham and cuddles!

Allot of cuddles!

Split

After Zadar it was on to Split to visit Ante a graduate of ours. After the most interesting meal consisting of Scallops and a king size milkshake he took us down to a Roman Castle circa 415 AD !

What an awesome building integrated into a shopping space and hotels whilst preserving its old splendor.

Afterwards we boarded our ferry and we were off back into the civilized EU incl. terrorist bomb threats !

The ferry was an overnight ferry (just like the one from Sweden to Denmark) but this time we were way better organised (despite the cabins being fully booked). Mel had packed cushions and a blanket and we managed to find 2 couches to sleep on, so we had a halfway restful night!

But when we arrived after an uneventful ferry ride, we awoke to Italy in all its splendor - Sunrise in Ancona!

Musical Zadar

We all know that it is not the size of the organ that matters but the motion of the ocean .....

Well Zadars Sea Organ has them both!

The organ uses wave power to play music by forcing air through pipes built into the boardwalk and coming out at the steps. 

Some Japanese girls were dancing to the tunes....

What were you guys thinking!!!!!

Plitvice Lakes

Campsite: Plantaza (Starigrad, Croatia)

Massive snow storms are predicted for the weekend so the decision was made last night over Dinner to head for the coast now before we have to cross mountain passes in inclement weather.

On the way we stopped at Plitvice Lakes National Park, essentially a connection of rivers & lakes creating beautiful waterfalls.

Not THE lakes but a little village on the way

Similar to Slovenia, the clarity of the water is mindblowing

We are now in Starigrad, which is just outside of Zadar